Beware Goblins, or Goblins Beware?
by LineApe
Summary: Lies, deceit, and murder. A Goblins favorite pass times. That does not bode well for their futures.


Beware Goblins, or Goblins Beware?

* * *

Beware of Goblins.

The beasts are never to be trusted; they lie, they cheat, and they are the most savage of creatures. The Ministry knows this, and that is why they have always been dealt with such a heavy hand.

At first, it was thought that the ministry should let the goblin nation govern itself.

That changed in the Goblin war of 1163.

The beasts, who at the time were considered masters of the warding and sealing arts, were given a ministry contract to fortify the wards of Granville's castle.

The castle, disguised to muggles as a Lord's manor, was in fact the place where magical Britain was run.

The Minister of Magic of the time was in desperate need of new wards, and the Goblins were his best bet for a proper security boost. Those damned Elves were attacking daily, and he just didn't have the manpower to properly defend his stronghold.

So sure was his trust in the Goblins that he allowed them to completely remove all the the wards, and build them from the ground up. The Goblins laughed at the stupidity of their rivals behind closed doors, but in public they worked hard and build the finest wards the wizards had ever seen. Of course, the goblins built a back-door into their wards and stormed the castle not a year later slaughtering two hundred wizards during the first session of the spring wizengamot.

The wizards having dispensed with their little Elf problem -- who knew elves loved to clean? -- found themselves with a new enemy. A ruthless enemy. An enemy who took no prisoners, and literally ate all survivors.

A long fought war ensued, leaving the Goblins to a conditional surrender. They created a bank for the goblins and allowed them to push their aggressive urges into commerce. Not the greatest idea in the world.

Twenty years later the Goblins had their first little rebellion. It ended in goblin defeat, but with the loot taken from a handful of rich pure-blooded family's forced the ministry to pass a law. The Goblins may not profit off the death of a wizard.

More rebellions happened. Every time the ministry created new laws and restrictions the Goblins found loopholes and struck again.

The goblins attacked the ministry at night, so the ministry created a mandatory goblin curfew.

The goblins use wand magic to bewitch unsuspecting customers, so the ministry bans goblin wand use.

Eventually by the twentieth century wizards had found practically any loophole a goblin could possibly have come up with. Goblins were finally forced to grit their teeth and deal with it.

The goblins were so crippled that they were forced to hire wizards to do many of their jobs. Jobs in fields of magic that were at one time considered their greatest. Wizards made and broke wards for Gringotts. Wizards helped guard the bank.

Wizards took care of everything that Goblins couldn't.

The ministry allowed this because surely no wizard would betray their own kind and support those beasts.

But the ministry never stopped passing laws. Soon they were using goblin laws not just to degrade goblins, but to also further discriminate against those of less pure blood. Muggleborn weren't allowed to have vaults. That was bad for business. Then, Half-bloods who inherited money weren't allowed to use more than a quarter of their vaults. The other three quarters of the gold was to be held in trust until a proper Pure-blooded heir was sired. Meaning that for half-blood customers, goblins were unable to invest more than a quarter. That was _very_ bad for business.

The goblin rebellions are important, and all wizards needed to know this. They were made a key part of a young wizard's curriculum for a reason: wizards must always beware of Goblins.

* * *

The second war was in full swing. The ministry was being held together by threads.

Harry and his rag-tag group of soldiers were all that was left of the resistance. Dumbledore died long ago, and all of his secrets died with him. It was Harry's war now, and he fought well.

The light may not have been losing, but were not exactly winning either. They were dark times.

A lone light shone for the resistance. Harry Potter had found love.

The golden trio became the golden duo when Ronald Weasley died. Poor chap lasted for two weeks in captivity before the Death Eaters decided he wouldn't break. The muggle ministry was rather confused when they received a dozen packages with the body parts of a certain redheaded man. It even made the news.

Harry was not amused.

A few wealthy purebloods were rather alarmed when the dismembered bodies of Draco and Lucius Malfoy were discovered on their doorsteps. It even made the news.

The golden duo found comfort in each-other. It didn't surprise anyone when they announced their engagement six months after their friend's death.

It did however confuse many when she turned up dead a week later.

Her body was found by an elderly couple outside the doors of the ministry. She wasn't roughed up in any fashion. It was a killing curse, and this tickled Harry's imagination. Her death was tragic, and he was crushed, but why make such a show of killing one of his friends and not another? This was his future wife! A muggleborn to boot! Surely Voldemort would make this a show of his power. Not even _Harry Potter's_ fiance is safe!

It took two days for Voldemort to take credit, but Harry knew it was a lie. No dark mark. It wasn't them, so who did it? The ministry? No, they weren't that stupid. Who?

Harry got his answer two weeks later. The capture of a low level death eater, and a touch of veritaserum had Harry in the mood to kill.

Goblins.

Apparently they had been frustrated with the fact that the sizable Potter fortune was nearly untouchable with Harry's Half-blood status. When they heard that he was to wed a Muggleborn. they knew they had to act. No Potter would sire another half-blood heir!

They couldn't kill her themselves, given how much the ministry had crippled them, but they had money. The wealthy could afford assassins. Ten-thousand galleons was all it took.

The next day Harry and all that remained of his little troupe strode calmly down Diagon Ally. It was a force of thirty willing soldiers. Harry was the first one in the doors, and he was the first one to send a curse.

"Avada Kedavra!" He cried, hitting the first goblin he saw. That opened the floodgates; at that point everyone in his party opened fire.

"Bombarda!"

"Confringo!"

"Duro!"

Harry walked forward, calmly flinging curses as he went. He hit a goblin. Then a gringotts wizard. Another goblin, and then another.

Gringotts had not been expecting a full frontal attack. Not one of this scale by any means, and within a minute the main chamber of gringotts was silent; littered with the corpses of goblins, wizards, and witches alike.

Harry walked towards a door. Labeled in both gobbledegook and in English it read, "Goblin living quarters, do not enter."

He opened the door and raised his wand, "Fiendfyre" he intoned.

Goblins loved their tunnels, and most of their tunnels were braced with wooden beams. Those not burnt to death by the fire were crushed to death as tons of stone crashed down upon them.

Walking away, he heard the pained screams as thousands of savage beasts died painfully.

Goblins beware.

* * *

AN: (april 08, 2010) I got a review from SomeGuyFawkes, and realized that there are a number of errors in this fic.

I made a few minor changes, but a re-write is needed, so i will do so at some point.

-Lineape


End file.
